May 02, 2024, 02:43:19 AM

Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Arlemus

Pages: 1 ... 3 4 [5] 6 7 ... 13
61
With this type of build, I would rather use multiple Goblin Alchemists than Acid Ball for stripping armor.

Altar of Carnage isn't something you want to play right away, you wait until you have at least 3 soldiers, at which point it pays for itself much faster than most mana generation cards. I dropped it in a game where I already had a ton of board presence, and started generating another 4-5 mana/round. And I used the mana from Construction Yard, so I didn't even need to pay much for it.

Oh yeah you're definitely right about the alchemists vs acid ball.  I'll trade at least one out for another alchemist, maybe all of them. Acid ball is still awesome so maybe just having 1 would be fine.

And yeah, altar definitely doesn't function until you get enough guys out.  In the game I played I had to choose either Armory or AoC and Armory felt like the easy choice because I was still vying for control of the middle zones and needed the buffs.  Though, choosing AoC wouldve let me channel a ton with 3 butchers and a ATC out...I hope to try it out soon.  Seems like it could help a ton with late game transition into minotaurs, thorg, etc.



62
Why do you have 1 gobling grunt there? I am just curious about reasons :)

I find that on average there's 1-2 times a game when I could use some extra creature dice but need most of my mana for something else and don't have the mana for a butcher.  Grunts fill that spot :P.  That said I might flex him out for another builder or something...

63
Spellbook Design and Construction / Bloodwave Warlord V1 (Post FiF)
« on: July 03, 2014, 01:07:21 PM »
Finally got a hold of my copy of FiF yesterday.  Augmented my book to fit in everything I think I wanted from FiF, then played a game (and won  ;))  Since the database isn't updated for FiF yet, had to type it out.  Here it is:

--------------------------------------
Creatures:
1x Gurmash
1x Thorg
4x Orc Butcher
1x Bloodcrag Minotaur
1x Goblin Builder
1x Anvil Throne Crossbowman
1x Goblin Alchemist
2x Goblin Slinger
1x Goblin Grunt

Enchantments:
1x Standard Bearer
1x Rhino Hide
1x Fortified Position
1x Poisoned Blood
1x Agony
1x Fumble
1x Brace Yourself

Equipment:
1x Harshforge Plate
1x Ring of Command
1x General's Signet Ring
1x Helm of Command
1x Morning Star

Incantations:
1x Perfect Strike
1x Conquer
1x Whirling Strike
2x Power Strike
1x Sniper Shot
2x Defend
1x Battle Fury
1x Piercing Strike
1x Charge
1x Dissolve
1x Group Heal
2x Flank Attack
2x Dispel
1x Teleport
2x Minor Heal
1x Force Push

Attacks:
1x Hurl Rock
2x Acid Ball
1x Hurl Boulder
1x Surging Wave

Conjurations:
1x Construction Yard
1x Barracks
1x Armory
1x Harshforge Monolith
1x Rolling Fog
1x Wall of Earth
1x Altar of Carnage
1x Tanglevine
1x Garrison Post
-------------------------------------

Opening:
Turn 1: Barracks in NC, Construction Yard in starting zone.
Turn 2: Deploy Butcher, move (or don't) and cast General's ring
Turn 3: Deploy Butcher, cast Command Ring, Possible Charge +1 Battle order, Power Strike for 1 mana, or defend for 0.

The general strat is to make butchers and buff them.  Standard bearer, Armory, command incantations, etc, all work great.  Once you start stacking buffs they all add up to something surprisingly impressive.

Obviously, the build isn't fully optimized yet, but I think it's on its way.  I think there could be more potential space opening up due to Harshforge, brace yourself, etc, making certain arcane spells less important, but I need to seem them in action to know for sure.  Also, I'm not sure where Altar of Carnage fits into the build; I'd much rather have an armory ASAP, from what I've seen.

Thanks for any input  ;)

64
Spellbook Design and Construction / Re: A Priest that works...
« on: July 03, 2014, 12:31:06 PM »
Quote
Fortunately i had a HA cleric on guard at the time his grizzly could strike, which immediately took 11 damage ! cleric was instant dead
This is why I prefer a bit stronger creature as a HA. The [mwcard=MWSTX1CKC06]Guardian Angel[/mwcard] makes a great mage guard as she heals when she guards, she has a defense, and between the Armor and Aegis she typically is really hard to kill. A HA cleric in addition to the Angel would be quite wicked.

Barring any buffs that grizzly got pretty darn lucky on that hit (4 damage above average).  Of course you still need to answer threat appropriately with HA (ie possibly make a bigger one vs bigger guys).  Paying 7 mana to block 11 damage is still a pretty good deal, especially since the Priest can still lay on the damage will Pillars from afar while full casting creatures.  Block, and now Fumble and Defend, are pretty good ways deal with the big hits.

I'm glad to hear you won though  ;D makes me feel like some of what I said helped.

Also, it's not just sleep I'm worried about when I spend 17 mana on a creature.  Tanglevine, Agony, etc, etc.  I still think big HA's are good, they just need to be really justified.  I think rather spend that 17 mana on making my Priest undamageable than put it into potentially a huge liability.  Both ways of thinking have benefits though.


65
Spellbook Design and Construction / Re: A Priest that works...
« on: July 01, 2014, 12:16:53 PM »
I partially agree here, I have had my Unicorn HA Sleeped before and it was very annoying. I now carry a couple of [mwcard=MW1I20]Purify's[/mwcard] in my book. Yes it an action to remove, but I feel it is worth the cost to have a wrecking machine vs. an annoyance.

I do need to test out the Assyrian Defender as an HA to see how well he works as one though.

[mwcard=MW1I20]Purify's[/mwcard] is one of the most underused cards in the game, imo. 

I need to test him more too.  I've had one go with him and it didn't give me enough feedback to make a decision one way or the other.  I think the Defender might be for a Temple build Priestess...

66
Being a minor expansion, it does leverage previous releases for these mages, just like CoK. Further more how would you play with out the Initiative Marker as this set does not come with one ;).

Arm wrestle for initiative at the end of each round

67
I thought this week's episode was the best yet  :D.  Someone (I think it was Tox) finally mentioned Flank Attack!  +2 melee and pierce is so strong, especially when it's discounted by [mwcard=FWQ08]Ring of Command[/mwcard] for only 2 mana.

If you guys could somehow get around to talking about Atlar of Carnage and Otto Kronig, I'd appreciate it.  I'm kindof unsure about their viability, but I get my set tomorrow so we'll see.




68
Spellbook Design and Construction / Re: A Priest that works...
« on: July 01, 2014, 11:37:41 AM »
Temple High Guard and all the other promos are available to play on OCTGN, for those who aren't aware. You can give them a shot on there before deciding if you want to buy them off eBay.

On topic, I really appreciate the discussion in this thread. @Arlemus, I think that +5 health is enough of a bonus that it's worth putting on any creature, efficiency aside. Also I'd much rather have a 7 dice piercing 1 attack than a 4 dice piercing 1 attack, know what I mean? Yes the cleric is more efficient for the same bonuses, but in the end you have an average creature when you could have had a wrecking machine. That's how it looks to me anyway.

I thought that too at first, but the main problem with that is that you have to pay more than double the cost of a HA cleric for a HA Knight (7 mana vs 17 mana). 

That's a pretty huge mana sink, which isn't inherently bad, but (like most pet abilities) you're paying more mana for the same level creature.  This means creature control spells that pay based on level are now more effective on your massive investment, which isn't good.  It happens to be very efficient to pay 6 mana to sleep a 17 cost creature, that's only about 1/3 of your investment to shut it down, and having to wake it up when you're already starved for actions isn't something I'm too fond of  :-\.

No one really bothers to control a HA cleric, from my experience.  I've never had anyone sleep one, it's just usually not a good play.  Initially investing in a HA cleric also leaves plenty of mana to buff the Priest, which is more important than having a HA anyway.  Paying for a massive 17 cost Knight doesn't leave you much to buff up #1.

Also, I'd much rather have a HA cleric and just summon a Knight after, if needed.  In doing that, you're getting the HA buff for minimal cost (2 mana) and diversifying your investments.  Yeah, it means you need to spend a full action summoning a knight, but now your HA has more targets to avenge off of and isn't so easily controlled.

They way I think about it, it doesn't really matter which creature the HA is on as long as it's on one of them.  It's 5 hp and +2 melee and 1 pierce no matter what, so I might as well pay as little for that as I can and if I need another creature then I need another creature :P.  I mean, a HA knight can wreck face, I've seen it happen, but most wise up and pick apart that huge investment.

TL;DR: Diversify.

69
General Discussion / Re: FiF: Street release July 2nd?
« on: June 30, 2014, 11:31:11 PM »
I'm hoping my FLGS gets new players too because of FiF.  Fresh meat!  ;D

70
Spellbook Design and Construction / Re: A Priest that works...
« on: June 30, 2014, 11:28:25 PM »
Temple High Guard would be so nasty with Defend, can't wait to do that.

We're getting kindof OT though, bring it innn.

71
Spellbook Design and Construction / Re: A Priest that works...
« on: June 30, 2014, 05:48:31 PM »
@Arlemus gives some very good and strong advice. I do disagree with some of it though. If you take 3, 5, and 7 what you have done is removed two of three(HoB) forms of passive healing out of your book and added in an action based solution with Minor Heal. For me with the Priest if there is some that I feel starved of other than Mana it is actions. Battleforge goes a long way in helping this but still you will find early to mid-game that you are making choices and choosing a Minor Heal will be painful vs. throwing on that belt to help Heal each round.

The Unicorn itself makes an awesome HA, I have found that it is so distracting many times my opponent focuses on it and that is a good thing, as that regeneration and extra life come in real handy. I have had both [mwcard=FWE07]Mind Control[/mwcard] and [mwcard=MW1I26]Sleep[/mwcard] used on it (and any HA in general) which is why I have added the [mwcard=DNQ09]Wand of Healing[/mwcard] to my battle forge based Priest build.

The Holy Avenger can only avenge when other friendly creatures are damaged but not itself.

My favorite Holy Avengers are the Temple High Guards hope they make the cut in PvS!

Yeah I think regrowth belt is a better move than healing yourself with an action; sIKE is right.  I still contest #'s 3 and 5, though. 

I just don't like making higher level creature HA's without a really, really good reason, especially considering you can still have a low cost effecient cleric HA and just summon a bigger creature anyway.  Also gives more avenging opportunities for the HA.  It's definitely good since healing wand isn't a promo anymore and it makes taking care of bigger creatures a lot easier (espeically with forge), just comes down to playstyle.

I've never really thought of the extra 1 regen from the Unicorn as a good reason to bring it out unless you have 2+ other creatures out as well...it's also sortof a nonbo with regrowth belt.  Maybe I'm just bad and unicorn is the hotness, alas :P

I hope Temple High Guard makes it in too, their "first strike"-ish ability is soo good.  Though, while it might seem contradictory to what I've been saying, my favorite HA is still the Knight.  I once 1 shotted a Cervire with an avenging Knight (Cervire had hit my mage) by qc'ing knockdown on it then hitting it with the Knight's 7 dice 1 pierce.  Obviously I rolled like 4 up, but still, it might be my favorite MW memory of all time, lol.

72
Spellbook Design and Construction / Re: A Priest that works...
« on: June 30, 2014, 08:54:04 AM »
That build looks better.  I'll post my book after I take a nap  :P.  There's a couple things I would still change:

1).  You should probably still have a zone attack.  Because Priest relies on forge and not Temple of Asyra (from my experience), you could get swarmed out without a zone attack. 

I currently use [mwcard=mw1a01]Blinding Flash[/mwcard] because it's in school and accomplishes pretty much everything I need a zone attack to (attack canceling).  Ring of Fire is obviously a great option too.

2).  You probably don't need 2 mana crystal and harmonize.  I'd say at most 1 crystal and harmonize, or 2 crystals (1 to replace the first), and that's pushing it for the Priest, I think.  I've tried a double crystal + forge opener with him and it just sets him too far behind, then he loses to 10 channel mages late game anyway.  My goal isn't to channel much early, it's to get Malakai's fire ticking ASAP.

3).  I don't think [mwcard=mw1c20]Highland Unicorn[/mwcard] is a good creature for the priest.  I think I'd much rather have a [mwcard=mw1c22]Knight of Westlock[/mwcard] in every cirucmstance.  They're meatier and they don't need to charge for their 5 dice, but I guess it's your book  :P. (I prefer Unicorns with the Priestess)

4).  You don't really need Bull Endurance.  I can't really think of a reason to use it over Healing Charm...especially considering Healing Charm can surprise cancel bloodthristy and is in school.  Holy Avenger is basically a better version of Bull Endurance for less mana anyway (albeit restricted to holy creatures).

5).  Don't really see the point of a mage wand except to bind that Heal to it,  Probably would just be better to put in a 1 or 2 minor heals instead,  A good opponent isn't going to let you battle fury or force push them over and over.

6).  Meditation Amulet is for builds that utilize multiple spawnpoints such that it renders their full actions expendable.  For Druid, Necro, and maybe the Priestess (haven't tried it with her yet, should soon), but not someone as action starved as the Priest, IMO.

7).  Put in a [mwcard=DNQ07]Veteran's Belt[/mwcard], and maybe drop that regrowth belt.  One of your main goals is to stack armor, and Vet belt will block the crits that get through.  You have regrowth anyway, so if you really want regen I'd just use that instead (and reveal it during upkeep).

I guess that was more than a couple things  :P

73
Spellbook Design and Construction / Re: A Priest that works...
« on: June 30, 2014, 07:59:49 AM »


If you need a guard, make a HA cleric.  They are the least expensive way to get that 5 extra hp, and if someone manages to get to your mage, their attack is actually respectable with the HA buff (4dice, 1 pierce).  Even if it ends up they are useless a turn, they can still heal you.



first of all thanks a lot for all these tips..i'm definitely gonna put your advice in my Priest spellbook !
i think i will make some space for asyrian clerics, an elemental wand, enough pillars and some acid balls...
I just had one more question about above made quote : let's say you have the cleric on guard in your priest's zone..your mage gets melee attacked, but its redirected to your cleric. the cleric survives the attack. Does the cleric then get the +2 and piercing +1 abilities form his HA ? in other words : 1) is your mage considered to be a "friendly" creature ? 2) was your mage the target of the attack ?

i would love to see your build of the priest, Arlemus...

1) Yup, he is.

2) Nope, he wasn't.  Guarding doesn't "redirect" anything, you have to target guards with melee attacks in the zone they're guarding (barring other circumstances).

Basically, when an enemy creature attacks and damages one of your creatures that isn't the Holy Avenger, the creature that IS the Holy Avenger gets the +2 melee, +1 pierce against it.  This means that if a creature damages your HA, it won't get the  buff against that creature.

The way I think of it is that your HA gets mad because he saw a friendly get hit, and thus wants to avenge them...in a holy way  :P.  He doesn't avenge himself.  Maybe that's more confusing, but at least that's how I think of it thematically.


74
Spellbook Design and Construction / Re: A Priest that works...
« on: June 29, 2014, 01:22:08 AM »
Dawnbreaker Ring does not boost a Battle Fury attack. It does boost a Pillar of Light attack and a Staff of Asyra attack in the same round though.

Oh right, the second hit from battle fury would be considered part of the same attack and so you'd only get the buff for the first swing like normal. 

75
Spellbook Design and Construction / Re: A Priest that works...
« on: June 29, 2014, 12:29:35 AM »
for the points of one elemental wand, you could have 4 pillar of light. and you still need the pillar so make it 5. i think its better to have 6 pillar of light then having 2 pillar and 1 wand. the wand can always get dispelled, and its a cost in mana to have it, cause all it truly does is give you more of the spell you binded to it.

Maybe if you want a diversity of attack spell you bring 2 want and a few spells just so you switch with battleforge so you dont use your action to switch spell and all, but i believe the priest is better with only pillar of light if he put 1 mana to also auto burn. Dang, the new warlock and the priest would be a nice combo in 2v2!

Also, i might be wrong but the elemental rings like dawnbreaker ring give the bonus for each attack that has the "light" type, or so i believe from the wording, since you gain a new melee/range +1 for each light attack. So, with battlefury, it gives its bonus to all "attacks", which makes it really nice with the staff. even if you only burn once.
(P.S. how does one link a card so that we can see its effect? i guess it has to do with the spellbook builder somehow)

Arlemus, do you play with temples also? i always find it hard to summon creatures while doing other stuff with the mage. I'd really like to make the priest work but as for many others i find the priestess just better so if you have more suggestions just pls share the love! and spellbook maybe.

Lemme break that up into points (because I'm bad at forum formatting  :P):

1).  I think I mislead with my post a bit.  Early game it's definitely better to open with some armor off the forge rather than a wand.  I would still use pillar and pay for Malakai's fire ASAP, but not with the ele wand until I was on my last pillar (in most cases).  Sorry about that.

It's true that elemental wand largely only functions to give you more of the spells you already have, BUT I would contend that having access to a 3rd spell (though obviously limited in scope) is definitely worth something.  I think elemental wand is absolutely worth it in Priest (and most books) because it ends up saving me space (rather than having to run more than 1 fireball, hurl boulder, or more than 2 acid ball).

2).  They would be sick together, I hope to start playing 2v2 soon and give a try  :)

3).  You're right about the ring, though most people don't let you battle fury them into a sizzling paste like that, lol; and you link a specific card by exporting a single card with through forum code using the builder, copy and paste. See the line of text that says "mwcard" blah, blah. [mwcard=mw1q27]1 x  Dawnbreaker Ring[/mwcard]

4).  The only temple I play with is the HoB.  I actually just modified my Priest book to include the new Asyran Defenders (I'll post it tomorrow or Monday) and I'm considering using the Dawnbreaker temple now because of the possible meta bump it got from the Asryan Defender's defense.  I've only had 1 game with the newly released promo though, and my initial feelings are that it's not going to be the new HA standard but again that's only 1 game.

Maybe if I just share my start it might help? Here:

Turn 1: Move, forge NC, crystal in starting zone
Turn 2: (prepare pillar and aegis enchant) Deploy Dawnbreaker ring, move and attempt a pillar, qc enchant on self
Turn 3: (prepare Ayran Cleric for HA if they have a creature, if they don't, prepare pillar) Deploy armor, attempt a pillar, summon Cleric if needed or keep stacking defenses

Basically, try to pillar the other mage.  This triggers Malakai's fire (which is amazing), and makes it easier to summon creatures and attack at the same time. 

If you need a guard, make a HA cleric.  They are the least expensive way to get that 5 extra hp, and if someone manages to get to your mage, their attack is actually respectable with the HA buff (4dice, 1 pierce).  Even if it ends up they are useless a turn, they can still heal you.

Don't drop a big HA.  At least not initally, mostly not even at all.  I find HA to be reactionary, so making a huge 17 cost knight that isn't an answer to anything is just begging for it to get controlled.  It's the same deal as with any pet ability: you paid more, but the level stayed the same, so it's just asking to be efficiently slept, etc.  You want to deter people from doing this as much as possible, and spending less mana on your "pet" is a decent way to do it.

TL;DR:
Stack Defenses (armor, aegis, etc).
Pillar or Staff Melee when appropriate.
Summon efficient guard when appropriate (HA cleric).




Pages: 1 ... 3 4 [5] 6 7 ... 13